Various - Still Unravished : A Tribute To The June Brides

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 18 / 5 / 2006

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Review

In the past few years, many of the old indiepop bands from the late 80’s and early 90’s have suddenly reformed, and one of those bands are the June Brides, fronted by Phil Wilson. The June Brides were initially formed back in 1983, and released some fantastic singles and a great album (consisting mostly of those singles) before they split up in 1986, before reforming for a gig in 1995 and then another one in 2002. Since then, things have been very quiet around the band, until now. Last year, a two-disc compilation was released on Cherry Red, called 'Every Conversation – The Story of The June Brides and Phil Wilson', and now, the Yes Box Ice Cream label has released this tribute CD to the band, which has 16 bands contributing their own renditions of some Junies songs. At a first glance, it’s an impressive list of participating bands, including the Manic Street Preachers and Television Personalities. They have all managed to collectively cover all the important songs from the June Brides catalogue (including some of Phil Wilson’s solo songs, as well). As usual when you’re dealing with these kinds of records, there are ups and downs. Although I am not a fan of the Manics normally, I think they do a good version of 'The Instrumental' and the Position's version of 'Every Conversation' is great too. The Television Personalities are… well the Television Personalities. Dan Treacy is as unpredictable as ever, and their version of 'I Fall' is just plain weird. But, to focus on the good sides here, Tompaulin does a great rendition of 'Heard You Whisper', and Postal Blue a fabulous version of 'Josef’s Gone'. If you’re a fan of the June Brides, or at least know most of their songs, this might be a good buy for you. But for the rest of you, get to know the original versions first, and then, perhaps, get to know these.

Track Listing:-

1 Manic Street Preachers- The Instrumental
2 The Positions- Every Conversation
3 Lovejoy- In The Rain
4 The Starlets- Sunday To Saturday
5 The Projects- Heard You Whisper
6 Television Personalities- I Fall
7 House Of Mexico- Sick Tired And Drunk
8 The Mad Scene- No Place Called Home
9 Postal Blue- Josef's Gone
10 How To Swim- On The Rocks
11 Bunnygrunt- We Belong
12 Tompaulin- Heard You Whisper
13 The Legend!- This Town
14 Jeffrey Lewis- Waiting For A Change
15 The Tyde -Pound For Pound
16 The Jasmine Minks-The Instrumental